Oglesby site one of 18 given medical marijuana permits by Gov. Rauner

The wait to find out which companies will be allowed to grow and sell medical marijuana in Illinois is over.

Governor Bruce Rauner Monday awarded the permits to cultivation centers and dispensaries after taking steps to fix what his aides said were legal flaws in the license award process under former Governor Pat Quinn.

GTI Clinic Holding, LLC received the one permit being issued for a cultivation center in State Police District 17. The company plans to build near the Love’s Travel Stop in Oglesby.

Oglesby Mayor Don Finley spoke with GTI officials shortly after the permits were announced. Finley says he’s happy to see the area getting new jobs. The cultivation center is expected to use a lot of electricity, which Finley says is also good for the city since they lost their biggest electric customer several years ago.

The one dispensary being allowed in District 17, Pharmacann, LLC plans to open in Ottawa.

In all, 18 businesses were given cultivate center permits, but three applications are being reviewed. 52 businesses were awarded licenses for dispensaries while five applications are being reviewed.

Bond set at $300,000 for brothers accused of armed robbery

Brothers accused of holding up the Shell gas station in Grand Ridge remain behind bars.

David Downey of Ottawa and Christopher Downey of Marseilles were arrested Friday night after allegedly robbing the gas station on Route 23 and leading the Grand Ridge Police officers and La Salle County Sheriff’s Deputies on a chase.

David and Christopher Downey each face one count of armed robbery. Their bond was set at $300,000.

Extra employees made it to work at the La Salle Generating Station

It wasn’t a snow day for employees of the La Salle County Generating Station. Exelon says more than 2,000 people made it in to the nuclear plant Monday morning to work on the Unit two refueling outage. Unit one continues to produce power.

Megan Borchers of Exelon says it was a scheduled outage. The plant has two reactors. Each of the reactors must be shut down and refueled every two years.

Exelon says 1,400 supplemental workers are called in to do all that needs to get done during the outage

Snow drifts and crashes close stretches of state highways

Roads in some parts of the Illinois Valley are still impassable because of snow and stranded vehicles.

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, Route 18 is closed from Route 251 east towards Streator. Route 34 is closed between Mendota and Earlville while Route 89 is close between Arlington and LaMoille.

Other trouble spots are Route 92 between LaMoille and Ohio and Route 34 between Mendota and LaMoille.

Interstates 80 and 39 are open but there have been accidents all morning long, some blocking traffic.

Blue ribbon movement sweeping the Illinois Valley to support police officers

If see you see blue ribbons popping up around your town, it’s to show support for law enforcement.

Following two police officers being ambushed and killed in New York, a social media movement started with blue ribbons to show support for the men and women in blue. Marseilles Police Lt. Brian Faber is now asking cities across La Salle County to hang up the ribbons as a show of solidarity.

Faber hopes that the ribbons will stay up across La Salle County for the entire month of February.
He says Peg Dunavan of Ottawa and Cheryl Mettille with TPM Stems in Ottawa have been the women behind making the ribbons.

For more about the blue ribbon movement you can hear an interview with Lt. Faber on the Classic Hits 103.9 WLPO news page.

Deputies say drive today only if its an emergency

Even though the snow has stopped, driving is still dangerous.

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, both Interstate 39 and 80 are considered completely snow and or ice covered. The La Salle County Highway Department lists county roads as snow and ice covered.

The La Salle County Sheriff’s Office says travel should be done still only in an emergency.

La Salle girl passes away after highly publicized battle with cancer

A little girl’s fight against cancer which has captivated the Illinois Valley came to a courageous end over the weekend.

The family of 5-year-old Lily Rosploch announced on the “Rally for Lily” Facebook page that Lily had passed away Saturday. Thousands upon thousands of messages of condolences quickly poured in.

Rosploch of La Salle was diagnosed with a form of cancer called neuroblastoma on third birthday in June of 2012. Since then she had been undergoing treatment at children’s hospitals in Peoria, Chicago and Memphis.

A statement from the family remembers Lily saying “thou she may have been little, Lily Rose Rosploch was fierce!”

Over a foot of snow covers the Illinois Valley

There shouldn’t be any apologies from weather forecasters in the Midwest. Predictions of heavy snow came true.

According to the National Weather Service, over 17 inches fell in Somonauk with 15 in Princeton. One spotter in La Salle measured nearly 14 inches. Places like DeKalb and Aurora measured between 16 and 17 inches.

Just over 18 inches of snow was measured near Midway Airport.

Snow causes disruption in Amtrak service for Mendota and Princeton

If you planned on riding the rails into the city Monday morning, make other plans.

Amtrak’s morning route, the Illinois Zephyr line that stops in Princeton around 8:30 and Mendota just before 9 has been cancelled because of the wintry weather. BNSF Railway has closed part of its tracks  that Amtrak uses due to blowing and drifting snow.

The evening Carl Sandburg train from Chicago to Mendota is still on schedule but you may want to keep checking with Amtrak throughout the day for possible weather cancellations.